Prompt Post 1

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At least one of the characters in your prompt must have been in Captain America: The First Avenger or Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

As of May 3, 2014, the spoiler policy is no longer in effect.

Update, April 22, 2014:
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Fill: Remote Part IV

[(Anonymous)]

"I must say I'm surprised at you, Rogers, keeping a secret like this for so long from so many people."

"What can I say? I guess you've been a terrible influence on me."

"Or a good one. Time was when you would have put it out on the loudspeaker that Hydra was still activating assassins. I keep disabling the intercom switch every time I know you're coming to my office."

"Maybe I should. I just..."

"I would suggest not doing that."

"I know you would, Nick."

"I'd like to think that the situation can be contained. But not until we find him. Any luck on that?"

"He's on ice right now, so I can't tell, but he's been very active over the past few months."

"So I've heard. Rogers, you do know it's not going to be easy to protect him, right? Even if we do find him. Keeping him a secret will only work for so long, and if I'm saying that, you know it must be true. You may find that you've compromised your sterling honesty for nothing."

"I understand. It's worth trying. He's not... what he is... on purpose. We're linked. I know what's been done to him. Do you have an Other?"

"Never been that lucky. I've heard only three percent of people find their Other during their lives."

"Then it's not something you would understand."

"What wouldn't I understand? You think I keep secrets because of my enemies. You're wrong. I keep secrets because of my friends."

* * *

Bucky was awake. Steve had been able to feel it all day long, like a dagger in his mind, shining and sharp. More than that, Bucky was close by. Maddeningly close. Steve could smell Washington, the humid southern air warm and heavy in Bucky's nostrils. He could hear the sounds of the city. He'd felt Bucky since that morning, and it had caused the usual restlessness in him. He had wandered around the city like a vagrant. Come on, Bucky, where are you? Give me a hint. Lately, Bucky had even been answering his call, conversing with him the way that they used to do, mind to mind for endless hours when they were young. He was different, now. Colder. But it was unmistakably his mental voice.

Bucky had said that he might kill him. Steve had to acknowledge it as a possibility. Hydra had done a fair job of wrecking him. The idea that Bucky might kill Steve before Steve had a chance to help him was what frightened Steve the most.

Or someone else might kill Bucky, but that seemed a dim possibility given the machine they had turned him into. Whatever else Bucky was now, he was effective.

But something had just gone wrong. Steve could feel it; the unmistakable tang of surprised disappointment. Bucky had just failed to kill someone. Who was it? Who was your target?

And for the first time, Bucky told him. The face of Nick Fury flashed through Steve's mind like a meteor, burning and then gone.

Steve felt his blood chill. The one other person in SHIELD who knew that Hydra was still active was Fury. Steve realized that he had made a deadly mistake, letting Bucky know where he was. It was unforgivable. Now Fury was in Hydra's crosshairs, and the only possible source of information was Steve's link to Bucky. Blinded by love, he had been feeding information to the enemy.

Steve wandered the streets looking for Fury. It didn't take him long to find where Fury had escaped. The streets were blocked off (but never to Captain America, law enforcement knew him on sight and gave him access) for miles in every direction, traffic ensnared in a gridlock by the wrecks of police cruisers and then there it was, a black SUV. Steve looked inside and saw Fury's escape route. Clever. But of course Fury was nowhere nearby. Where would he go?

Who would he trust?

Nobody. Fury never trusted anybody. But he and Steve were the only ones who knew why the hit had been put out, so that meant that he would try to find... Oh, no. He couldn't have been stupid enough to... please, no.

Steve ran at top speed back to his apartment, the same place he had practically given Bucky directions to, weeks ago. Maybe they had wiped him; maybe Bucky had forgotten.

Maybe pigs would fly. Steve could always hope.

He made it to the apartment and practically flew up the stairs, going so fast that he actually felt winded. He passed the pretty blonde girl next door, but didn't have time to chat; he touched his door. There was the sound of music on the other side of it. Fury was there. Steve unlocked and opened the door, cautiously moving into the apartment, afraid to turn on any lights. He didn't know where Bucky might be, but Bucky was definitely still awake. Steve did his best to keep his mind closed.

"I don't remember giving you a key." He tried to keep his voice normal.

"You really think I'd need one?" Fury looked battered and exhausted. "My wife kicked me out."

Steve paused. He knew it was a lie, but he didn't know why. "I didn't know you were married."

"There's a lot you don't know about me." Fury flashed the face of his phone at Steve. EARS EVERYWHERE, it said, and Steve realized that his place was bugged. He mentally cursed Fury, wondering whether his whispers at night had been loud enough to be captured by the bugs, wondering just how much of his devotion to Bucky was under scrutiny by various SHIELD members in sound-proofed kiosks downtown.

He didn't have time to realize much else, though, because he suddenly felt Bucky so close by that it felt like the force of a battering ram against his mind. Steve dropped to one knee, holding his head in his hands. He had been reaching out so hard and for so long that the sound of Bucky's awareness in his mind was overwhelming. Thunderclaps of thought clashed against his own thoughts, making a chaos.

Too late, he thought about pulling Fury to a better covered position; there was a bang as several shots were fired through the wall. Bucky had known exactly where to shoot, because Steve had been looking right at Fury.

Steve pulled Fury into the next room...

"Captain Rogers? I'm Agent 13, SHIELD Special Service."

"Kate?" Steve shook his head, desperately trying to think. The girl rounded the corner with practiced care, keeping her weapon lifted slightly, but ready to use.

"I'm assigned to protect you."

"On whose order?" Steve demanded.

She looked in shock down at the floor. "His." She dropped to Fury's side and pulled out a COM unit. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive, I need EMTs!"

The reply snapped back, "And the shooter?"

"Tell him I'm in pursuit," Steve said, hoping Kate or whoever she was could handle the situation, but knowing he'd never get a better chance. He grabbed his shield and jumped through the window to the next building. He could see Bucky running along the roof; he catapulted himself through the office hallways and finally through another window and then...

BUCKY, STOP! IT'S ME! He threw his mind at Bucky like a fist.

Bucky stopped, turned halfway, and fell to his knees, holding his head. Steve knew he was feeling the same thing that Steve had felt back at the apartment; the full force of their connection snapping into place.

Steve stumbled, trying not to fall. He looked at Bucky for the first time in seventy years. Black outfit, face mask, shaggy hair. And there was the metal arm, shining and dangerous. But it was him. It was him. Steve staggered forward, trying to get to him.

WHO ARE YOU

The thought was a roar, and Steve had to close his eyes momentarily, but he didn't stop moving forward. "You're about to find out." He reached Bucky, touched him on the shoulder...

DON'T TOUCH ME

"Bucky, look at me! You know me!"

NO I DON'T

"Bucky, you've known me your whole life." Steve reached forward and pulled off Bucky's mask, and saw his face. Bucky's eyes were shadowed with grease paint, but it was him. Steve forgot everything else, forgot Fury back at the apartment, forgot the sniper rifle laying on the rooftop beside them, forgot the way Bucky was changed, forgot everything. All he could think about was how whole he suddenly felt. He grabbed Bucky with both hands and pulled him into a rough embrace.

Who are you? This time, Bucky's mental voice sounded weak and bewildered.

Steve Rogers. Your friend, your soul mate, and you are my everything and you're HERE, you're finally HERE and we can be together again and...

Bucky pulled away hard, stumbling back from Steve's grip, and pulled out a knife. "I don't know you," he rasped harshly. And he lunged at Steve. They grappled, and Steve was finally given the chance to feel just how strong Bucky had become; it was all he could do to fend off the tip of the knife, even with his shield. Then Bucky pulled out a gun.

Steve put all of the force of his mind behind the order. STOP IT RIGHT THE HELL NOW.

Bucky stopped dead, staring. He dropped the gun.

He said, "I've never heard you curse in your entire life."

And then he fainted.